People with impaired vision have difficulty in reading books, perceiving small objects, or seeing fine detail. Magnifying glass has long been used to enable the perception of detail in an object or to enable the visualization of characters where such detail may be below the unaided resolution of vision of the individual. Desktop electronic magnifiers, sometimes referred to as closed circuit television devices (cctv) have now largely supplanted magnifying glass. These devices employ a camera having CMOS technology for generating an enlarged or magnified image of the object. The user is then able to view an enlarged image of the object as it is displayed on a monitor.
Currently available desktop electronic magnifiers have a number of limitations. One important limitation is that the controls for the magnifier are often located either on the table of the unit where the item to be magnified is placed. When mounted to the table of the unit, the monitor may block access to the control panel. Moreover, such an assembly is complex because the electrical wiring must pass through the table up to the camera. A need therefore exists for a desktop electronic magnifier where the length of the electrical wiring between the camera and the control panel is minimized and where the control panel can be accessed for all or almost all positions of the monitor.